I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 211

Cassie Fletcher clung desperately to Nora Newman's waist, burying her face against her. Her voice was sharp and loud, staking her claim. "Mom! How could you spend time with someone else and not me?!"

In her mind, her mother should have come to check on her, and upon finding her unavailable, waited patiently at home. She hated seeing her mother with anyone else.

This was *her* mother!

Nora stumbled slightly from the impact, barely catching her balance as Xander Harrison pulled his hand away from her back. She looked down at her daughter throwing a tantrum in her arms, her brows knitting together in a slight frown.

Bonnie Harrison had been shoved hard by Cassie. Thankfully, Felix Ford caught the little girl's shoulders from behind just in time. She didn't fall, but she was visibly shaken.

Standing close to Felix's legs, Bonnie gripped the edge of his jacket with her tiny hands. Her eyes were rimmed with red, but she stubbornly pressed her lips together, refusing to cry.

His expression darkening, Xander scooped Bonnie into his arms. The little girl immediately buried her face into his shoulder, overwhelmed with grievance.

Nora took a deep breath, pushing down the complex emotions churning in her chest. She crouched down, grasped Cassie's shoulders, and gently but firmly pulled the girl away from her body.

This wasn't the first time this had happened. Cassie had pushed Bonnie before, completely ignoring everything Nora had tried to teach her.

This time, her tone was dead serious. "Cassie, I've told you before. What are you supposed to do when you push someone?"

"Shouldn't you apologize to Bonnie?"

Cassie froze, stunned by her mother's tone.

Finnegan Fletcher frowned deeply. Watching Nora scold Cassie with such a cold expression made an inexplicable sense of unease twist in his gut.

In the past, Nora used to pour all the tenderness in the world onto Cassie. If the girl so much as coughed, Nora would take time off from the institute and rush home. If Cassie threw a tantrum for a toy, Nora would buy it without a second thought.

Now, the way she squatted there, looking at Cassie, was no different from how she would look at any misbehaving child. That shift made him feel as though something vital was slipping right through his fingers.

He instinctively took a step forward, a hint of reprimand in his voice. "Nora, Cassie is just a kid. Don't be so hard on her."

"Frederick," Nora said, looking up at him with eyes as calm as stagnant water. "I don't need you to teach me how to discipline my own child."

Finnegan stiffened at the sharp retort, his lips parting, but he couldn't find a single word to say back.